Barbus barbus…Ruler of the river or Prince of the pool?
Part 1

Should barbel be stocked in stillwaters or left alone to inhabit their natural river environment? Certainly a question that raises a variety of opinions, with some of the debate getting quite heated. I guess we all have our views on the subject. Mine is that barbel belong in rivers and that their stocking into stillwaters should be discouraged as much as possible. I want to use this article to explain why, after considering the subject carefully I arrive at that position.

I think it's important that whatever opinion we have in angling (or anything else, for that matter), we have because we have weighed up the facts and reached an objective conclusion. Also, the kind of person who rants, raves, threatens and abuses will never win anyone over to his way of thinking. Even if his way of thinking is right, because of his attitude, others will be turned off.

One of the things we need to bear in mind when we talk about barbel and stillwater, is that we are talking about 'Barbus barbus', the species found here in Britain. I mention that because there are 38 species of 'Barbus' in Europe, and not every one of that number requires the habitat that our own barbel does. That's an important point to consider, particularly when we are told about the barbel that thrive in European stillwaters. Remember that although they bear the name barbel, they are not the same species as 'barbus barbus'.

Although now present in many of our rivers, the barbel is in fact a stocked fish in most of them, including the Severn. It's hard to imagine, particularly those of us that have grown up with the Severn as a barbel river, that prior to 1956 it wasn't the bronzed bullet haven that it is today. From just 509 stocked fish, we now have 100 miles of excellent barbel fishing available. Other rivers also bear out the fact that barbel thrive when stocked (Bristol Avon, Dane, Ribble, Wye etc). Unfortunately though, the same cannot be said for stillwaters. The reason is quite simple - barbel do not belong there. They are not in their natural environment.

Barbel are a lithophilous species, which put simply means that they require flowing water and gravel to reproduce. The Environment Agency advise 'that it is dubious practice to deliberately stock barbel into habitats where they are expected to live on a catch and release basis while being very unlikely to be able to spawn successfully'. (Quoted from Barbel Society literature).

Barbel in stillwaters are an 'attraction' and help to promote the water, but at what cost to the fish? The Barbel Society state they 'are stocked into commercial stillwaters without any thought for the fish themselves but for financial gain - greed!’ Who, by taking an open and rational view of the subject can disagree with that?

Barbel are well known for the ability to move up and down the river system, often covering great distances. This is not available to them in a stillwater venue. They are limited to the boundary of the pool in which they find themselves.

Take a stillwater in the heat of summer. Fish such as tench and carp thrive in that environment, that's often the time of year in which to target them. But the poor barbel suffers. They are less tolerant of low oxygen levels and high water temperatures than the previously mentioned fish. Rather than see a barbel basking in the sun as one sees carp, you are more likely to see it gasping for air at the surface, like a goldfish in a bowl.

In fact, for barbel, the lethal concentration of oxygen is almost twice as high as it is for tench. Even when barbel are bred in fish farms for stocking into pools, there is the need for extra oxygenation. That oxygen dependency is not catered for when put into the stillwater.